Cheltenham Town were denied a first ever win double over Bristol Rovers by a 95th minute wonder goal from Oliver Norburn at the Abbey Business Stadium this evening.

Shaun Harrad's strike at the end of the first half looked to have settled a keenly contested derby clash, but John Ward's side hit back at the death to continue their improvement.

It was former Robins boss Ward's second match in the opposition dugout at Whaddon Road with the first ending in a 1-0 defeat for Carlisle United in January 2008.

Chasing their fourth win in a row, Rovers made by far the stronger start and Cheltenham were forced to soak up some sustained pressure.

Paul Benson did have a brief glimpse of goal in the fifth minute when he reached Jermaine McGlashan's cross from the right, but he failed to make a good contact and the ball bobbled harmlessly wide.

Apart from that it was all Rovers in the opening 20 minutes, with Colchester United loan midfielder John-Joe O'Toole prominent.

He forced Scott Brown into a diving save in the seventh minute and from the resulting corner Tom Parkes' low effort was kicked away by Brown at the near post.

Willed on by nearly 1,500 vociferous supporters Rovers made their extra man in the middle of the pitch count, but as the half wore on Cheltenham settled and began to threaten themselves.

Former Rovers favourite Steve Elliott, who is always guaranteed an excellent ovation from the Gas fans, went down in the box in the 22nd minute after Keith Lowe's free-kick was deflected to him off the defensive wall.

There were some half-hearted penalty appeals, but referee David Phillips was having none of it.

Elliott almost scored in front of the travelling fans three minutes later, leaping to reach Kaid Mohamed's corner from the left, but Michael Smith headed off the line.

Goalmouth action was then at a premium for the remainder of the first half, but just when the teams looked set to go in at the break all-square, Harrad struck for the second time in four days.

Mohamed's shot was blocked by Parkes, but it fell kindly for Harrad in space and he showed his finishing prowess once again, beating Steve Mildenhall from ten yards in the second minute of time added on.

Jason Taylor surged through the middle in the opening minute of the second half, but his shot from just outside the area was sliced wide.

McGlashan had a glorious chance to double Cheltenham's lead in the 56th minute, receiving a cross from Mohamed and finding himself in space six yards out.

He prodded it straight at Mildenhall, but did not know much about it, but it hit him and flew to safety.

O'Toole went close with a low shot that cleared the right post by inches with Brown at full stretch in the 65th minute.

Brown reacted quickly to claw away another drive from O'Toole in the 71st minute and a long clearance from Mildenhall almost caught out the Robins' defence.

Substitute Eliot Richards ran through, but as the ball bounced high Keith Lowe and Michael Hector managed to recover and clear for a corner between them.

But Norburn rescued a point in the 95th minute with a beautiful shot from 35 yards which flew into the top right corner, giving Brown absolutely no chance. It was virtually the last kick of the game and Rovers' travelling masses celebrated like they had won the League.

2 comments

lucky to go in at half time 1 nil up,after being totally outplayed & outthought.taylor looked like donald duck,waddling round the midfield chasing shadows.no service to the front two,mcclasan struggling to get past the fullback,mohamed cant trp a bag of concrete!but MY thought he'd give them the benefit of the doubt and keep it unchanged for the 2nd half.that was the first mistake.not much better in the 2nd half.rovers stll playing the football,us lumping it forward hoping for the best.as per usual,MY won't change anything until 65mins have past.then in his wisdom,he takes off harrod who scored the goal,and is always liable to nick another one.so he brings n a midfielder.so were left with oneup front,and the rest of the team going deeper& deeper.john ward must have smiled,made his subs,an thanked MY playing right into his hands.rovers deserved there point for the way they played.we lost 2points because of MY poor decision making again.shame we have'nt got hector for 2years,and taylor on a months loan.another poor performance at home.apart the from the wycombe & torquay performances,the rest have been pretty bad.we still live in hope,but its hard to have confidence in MY ability to get us over the line.

Firstly,great support from the travelling Gas,I love it when there is a real footy atmoshear in the ground,secondly this was a pretty good game between the club near the bottom playing really good football against the team at the top playing long ball hope for the best!
Although exciting to watch as this game was it strikes me M Y as changed his stragedy,in getting the ball to the top third and play from there,leaving Taylor and Penn to enforce the midfield for large parts of the game Robins were out played,with the frustrating Mohamed at the centre of giving the ball away cheaply once more.
Harrod was having a very good game and appears to be enjoying the ball be played up front early and more crosses coming in with Benson alongside we always looked dagerous on the break,however what does M Y do....take both of them off leave Harrison as a lone striker and become more defence minded as the game wore on,admittidly we were only 20 seconds from victory but I felt the lack of a goal threat up front gave Rovers the encouragement to pile forward.Now after all said and done what a strike from Norburn and Uncle John will keep Rovers up and take a lot of scalps along the way.
One last thing Roberts M O M ??? Elliot and Hector were outstanding all night...they had to be!